Alzheimer’s

I stand frozen, watching the flames all around me.

All the words of my beautiful mind, turning to ashes.

I hear screams of terror from all my characters, every persona I've taken, every life I've created, all the words I've bleed disintegrating to nothing. 

My castle of thoughts diminished.

I'm cold. No walls surround me.

Charred flesh in masses, smoky haze fills the air.

I gasp, trying to catch my breath, trying to understand....

What happened? What's happening to me?

Something ticks on my wrist, telling me it's dark with its dusty hands.

Something reaches for me.

I see a stranger's face of sympathy and tears as I ask why, why did this happen?

I sink to the blackened snow and wonder...

I shiver, trying to recall why I'm here. My limbs are frozen in the ice.

I panic, tears in my eyes, as one last image crosses my mind....

And to think, it all started in a room of books.